INTR,ODTJCTION:THE STR,I.IGGLE FOR, MEANING

If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in brue

consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difr-cult achievernent is to ffnd meaning in our lives. It is well known howmany have lost the will to live, and have stopped trying, because suchmeaning has evaded them. An understanding of the meaning of one'slife is not suddenly acquired at a particular age, not even when onehas reached chronological maturity. On the contrary, gaining a secureunderstanding of what the meaning of one's life may or ought to be

-this is what constitutes having attained psychological maturity. Andthis achievement is the end result of a long development: at each age

we seek, and must be able to ffnd, some modicum of meaning congru-ent with how our minds and understanding have already developed.

Contrary to the ancient myth, wisdom does not burst forth fullydeveloped like Athena out of Zeus's head; it is built up, small step bysmall step, from most irrational beginnings. Only in adulthood can anintelligent understanding of the meaning of one's existence in thisworld be gained from one's experiences in it. Unfortunately, too manyparents want their children's minds to function as their own deasif mature understanding of ourselves and the world, and our ideasabout the meaning of life, did not have to develop as slowly as ourbodies and minds.

Today, as in times past, the most important and also the most diffi-cult task in raising a child is helping him to ffnd meaning in life. Manygrowth experiences are needed to achieve this. The child, as he devel-ops, must learn step by step to understand himself better; with this hebecomes more able to understand others, and eventually can relateto them in ways which are mutually satisfying and meaningful.

To find deeper meaning, one must become able to transcend the

4

narrow conftnes of a self-centered existence and believe that one willmake a signiftcant contribution to life-if not right now, then at somefuture time. This feeling is necessary if a person is to be satisffed withhimself and with what he is doing. In order not to be at the mercy ofthe vagaries of life, one must develop one's inner resources, so thatone's emotions, imagination, and intellect mutually support and en-rich one another. Our posibive feelings give us the strength to developour rationality; only hope for the future can sustain us in the adversi-ties we unavoidably encounter.

As an educator and therapist of severely disturbed children, mymain task was to restore meaning to their lives. This work made itobvious to me that if children were reared so that life was meaningfulto them, they would not need special help. I was confronted with theproblem of deducing what experiences in a child's life are most suitedto promote his ability to ftnd meaning in his life; to endow life ingeneral with more meaning. Regarding this task, nothing is moreimportant than the impact of parents and others who take care of thechild; second in importance is our cultural heritage, when transmittedto the child in the right manner. When children are young, it is

literature that carries such information best.Given this fact, I became deeply dissatisfted with much of the litera-

ture intended to develop the child's mind and personality, because itfails to stimulate and nurture those resources he needs most in orderto cope with his dificult inner problems. The preprimers and primersfrom which he is taught to read in school are designed to teach thenecessary skills, irrespecbive of meaning. The overwhelming bulk ofthe rest of so-called "children's literature" attempts to entertain or toinform, or both. But most of these books are so shallow in substancethat little of signiftcance can be gained from them. The acquisition ofskills, including the ability to read, becomes devalued when what onehas learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life.

We all tend to assess the futtire merits of an activity on the basis ofwhat it offers now. But this is especially true for the child, who, muchmore than the adult, lives in the present and, although he has anxietiesabout his future, has only the vaguest notions of what it may requireor be like. The idea that learning to read may enable one later toenrich one's life is experienced as an empty promise when the storiesthe child listens to, or is reading at the moment, are vacuous. Theworst feature of these children's books is that they cheat the child ofwhat he ought to gain from the experience of literature: access todeeper meaning, and that which is meaningful to him at his stage ofdevelopmernt.

Itlroductlon 5

F or a story truly to hold the child's attention, it must entertain himrtnd arouse his curiosity. But to enrich his life, it must stimulate hislmagination; help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emo-llons; be attuned to his anxieties and aspirations; give full recognitionto his difficulties, while at the same time suggesting solutions to theproblems which perturb him. In short, it must at one and the sametlme relate to all aspects of his personality-and this without everl;olittling but, on the contrary, giving full credence to the seriousnessof the child's predicaments, while simultaneously promoting conff-<lonce in himself and in his future.

In all these and many other respects, of the entire "children's litera-ture"-with rare exceptions-nothing can be as enriching and satisfy-lng to child and adult alike as the folk fairy tale. True, on an overt levelfulry tales teach little about the speciffc conditions of life in modernrnass society; these tales were created long before it came into being.llut more can be learned from them about the inner problems ofhuman beings, and of the right solutions to their predicaments in anysociety, than from any other type of story within a child's comprehen-slon, Since the child at every moment of his life is exposed to thesociety in which he lives, he will certainly learn to cope with itsconditions, provided his inner resources permit him to do so.

Just because his life is often bewildering to him, the child needseven more to be given the chance to understand himself in this com-plex world with which he must learn to cope. To be able to do so, thechild must be helped to make some coherent sense out of the turmoilof his feelings. He needs ideas on how to bring his inner house intoorder, and on that basis be able to create order in his life. He needs

-and this hardly requires emphasis at this moment in our history-a moral education which subtly, and by implication only, conveys tohim the advantages of moral behavior, not through abstract ethicalconcepts but through that which seems tangibly right and thereforemeaningful to him.

The child ffnds this kind of meaning through fairy tales. Like manyother modern psychological insights, this was andcipated long ago bypoets. The German poet Schiller wrote: "Deepcr rReaning resides inthe fairy tales told to me in my childhood thdirafii'the truth that istaught by life." (The Piccolomini,l[l, 4.)

Through the centuries (if not millennia) during which, in their re-telling, fairy tales became ever more reffned, they came to convey atthe same time overt and covert meanings.<ame to speak simultane-ciusly to all levels of the human personality, communicating in a man-ner which reaches the uneducated mind of the child as well as that

INTRODUCTION 6

of the sophisticated adult. Applying the psychoanalytic model of thehuman personality, fairy tales carry important messages to the con-scious, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind, on whatever leveleach is functioning at the time. By dealing with universal humanproblems, particularly those which preoccupy the child's mind, thesestories speak to his budding ego and encourage its development,while at the same time relieving preconscious and unconscious pres-

sures. As the stories unfold, they give conscious credence and body toid pressures and show ways to satisfy these that are in line with ego

and superego requirements.But my interest in fairy tales is not the result of such a technical

analysis of their merits. It is, on the contrary, the consequence ofasking myself why, in my expeiience, children-normal and abnor-mal alike, and at all levels of intelligence-find folk fairy tales moresatisfying than all other children's stories.

The more I tried to understand why these stories are so successful

at enriching the inner life of the child, the more I realized that thesetales, in a much deeper sense than any other reading material, gtart

where the child really is in his psychological and emotional being.They speak about his severe inner pressures in a way that the childunconsciously understands, and-without belittling the most seriousinner struggles which growing up entails-<ffer examples of bothtemporary and permanent solutions to pressing difrculties.

When a grant from the Spencer Foundation provided the leisure tostudy what contributions psychoanalysis can make to the education ofchildren-and since reading and being read to are essential means ofeducation-it seemed appropriate to use this opportunity to explorein greater detail and depth why folk fairy tales are so valuable in theupbringing of children. My hope is that a proper understanding of theunique merits of fairy tales will induce parents and teachers to assign

them once again to that central role in the life of the child they heldfor centuries.

,'''Fairy Tales anQ tlee Exiatential Predioarrrent

In order to master the psychological problems of growing ulHver-coming narcissistic disappointments, oedipal dilemmas, sibling rival-ries; becoming able to relinquish childhood dependencies; gaining a

feeling of selfhood and of self-worth, and a sense of moral obligation

lnlnxluclktn 7

-l child needs to understand what is going on within his conscioussellsr> thut he can also cope with that which goes on in his unconscious.I lo ctrn uchieve this understanding, and with it the ability to cope, nottlrrough rational comprehension of the nature and content of hisuncorrscious, but by becoming familiar with it through spinning outr luyclrcums-ruminating, rearranging, and fantasizing about suitablenlory clcments in response to unconscious pressures. By doing this, thet'lrlld fits unconscious content into conscious fantasies, which thenorrnllle him to deal with that content. It is here that fairy tales haverrnoquuled value, because they offer new dimensions to the child's "llnugination which would be impossible for him to discover as truly

"'orr hls own. Even more important, the form and structure of fairy tales .nrrggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams .

ulr<l with them give better direction to his life.ln child or adult, the unconscious is a powerful determinant of

lltrhuvior. When the unconscious is repressed and its content deniedRrrtrunce into awareness, then eventually the person's conscious mind . rwlll be partially overwhelmed by derivatives of these unconsciouselcments, or else he is forced to keep such rigid, compulsive controlovcr them that his personality may become severely crippled. Butwhcn unconscious material ls to some degree permitted to come tollwureness and worked through in imagination, its potential for caus-lrrg harm-to ourselves or others-is much reduced; some of its forcescrun then be made to serve positive purposes. However, the prevalentpurental belief is that a child must be diverted from what troubles himrnost: his formless, nameless anxieties, and his chaotic, angry, andoven violent fantasies. Many parents believe that only conscious real-ity or pleasant and wish-fulfflling images should be presented to thechild-that he should be exposed only to the sunny side of things. Butsuch one-sided fare nourishes the mind only in a one-sided way, andrcol life is not all sunny.

There is a widespread refusal to let children know that the sourceof much that goes wrong in life is due to our very own natures-thepropensity of all men for acting aggressively, asociallyrselffshly, out ofunger and anxiety. Instead, we want our childrm'to believe that,inherently, all men are good. But children knort,that theg are notalways good; and often, even when they are, they would prefer notto be. This contradicts what they are told by their parents, and there-fore makes the child a monster in his own eyes.

The dominant culture wishes to pretend, particularly where chil-dren are concerned, that the dark side of man does not exist, and

INTRODUCTION 8

professes a belief in an optimistic meliorism. Psychoanalysis itself is

viewed as having the purpose of ma-king life easy-but this is not whatits founder intended. Psychoanalysis was created to enable man toaccept the problematic nature of life without being defeated by it, orgiving in to escapism. Freud's prescription is that only by strugglingcourageously against what seem like overwhelming odds can mansucceed in wringing meaning out of his existence.

This is exactly the message that fairy tales get across to the child inmanifold form: that a struggle against severe difficulties in life is un-avoidable, is an intrinsic part of hurnan existence-but that if one doesnot shy away, but steadfastly meets unexpected and often unjust hard-ships, one masters all obstacles and at the end emerges victorious.

Modern stories written for young children mainly avoid these exis-tential problems, although they are crucial issues for all of us. Thechild needs most particularly to be given suggestions in symbolic formabout how he may deal with these issues and grow safely intomaturity. "Safe" stories mention neither death nor aging, the limitsto our existence, nor the wish for eternal life. The fairy tale, by con-trast, confronts the child squarely with the basic human predica-ments.

For example, many fairy stories begin with the death of a motheror father; in these tales the death of the parent creates the mostagonizing problems, as it (or the fear of it) does in real life. Otherstories tell about an aging parent who decides that the time has cometo let the new generation take over. But before this can happen, thesuccessor has to prove himself capable and worthy. The BrothersGrimm's story "The Three Feathers" begins: "There was once upona time a king who had three sons. . . . When the king had become oldand weak, and was thinking of his end, he did not know which of hissons should inherit the kingdom after him." In order to decide, theking sets all his sons a difrcult task; the son who meets it best "shallbe king after my death."

It is characteristic of fairy tales to state an existential dilemmabriefly and pointedly. This permits the child to come to grips with theproblem in itsmostessential form, where a more complex plot wouldconfuse matters'for him. The fairy tale simpliffes all situations. Itsffgures are clearly drawn; and details, unless very important, areeliminated. All characters are typical rather than unique.

Contrary to what takes place in many modern children's stories, infairy tales evil is as omnipresent as virtue. In practically every fairytale good and evil are given body in the form of some ftgures and their

Inlnrluction g

ru<,tions, as good and evil are omnipresent in life and the propensitieslirr both are present in every man. It is this duality which poses thertroral problem, and requires the struggle to solve it.

llvil is not without its attrachions-symbolized by the mighty giantor dragon, the power of the witch, the cunning queen in "SnowWhite"-and often it is temporarily in the ascendancy. In many fairyIrtlrrs a usurper succeeds for a time in seizing the place which right-lirlly belongs to the hero-as the wicked sisters do in "Cinderella." Itln rrot that the evildoer is punished at the story's end which makesllrrrnersing oneself in fairy stories an extrrerience in moral education,ulthough this is part of it. In fairy tales, as in life, punishment or fearol'lL is only a limited deterrent to crime. The conviction that crimerkrtrs not pay is a much more efiechive deterrent, and that is why inlirlry tales the bad person always loses out. It is not the fact that virtuewlns out at the end which promotes morality, but that the hero is mostu I I rtctive to the child, who identiffes with the hero in all his struggles.lk'cuuse of this idenfiffcation the child imagines that he sufiers withllrc hero his trials and tribulations, and triumphs with him as virtueItt victorious. The child makes such identiffcations all on his own, andllrc inner and outer struggles of the hero imprint morality on him.

'l'hc ffgures in fairy tales are not ambivalent-not good and bad atllrc sume time, as we all are in reality. But since polarization domi-nrrlcs the child's mind, it also dominates fairy tales. A person is eithergrxr<l or bad, nothing in between. One brother is stupid, the other isr,lover. One sister is virtuous and industrious, the others are vile andlrrzy. One is beautiful, the others are ugly. One parent is all good, theolhcr evil. Thejuxtaposition ofopposite characters is not for the pur-;losc of stressing right behavior, as would be true for cautionary tales.('l'hcre are some amoral fairy tales where goodness or badness, beautyor rrgliness play no role at all.) Presenting the polarities of character;xrrmits the child to comprehend easily the difference between thelwo, which he could not do as readily were the ffgures drawn moretrrrc to life, with all the complexities that characterize real people.Arnbiguities must wait until a relahively ftrm personality has beent,stublished on the basis of positive identiffcations. Then the child hasrr busis for understanding that there are great difierences betweenpcople, and that therefore one has to make choices about who onewunts to be. This basic decision, on which all later personality devel-oprnent will build, is facilitated by the polarizations of the fairy tale.

l,'urthermore, a child's choices are based, not so much on rightvcrsus wrong, as on who arouses his sympathy and who his antipathy.

INTRODUCTION

The more sirnple and straightforward a good character, the easier itis for a child to identify with it and to reject the bad other. The childidenbiffes with the good hero not because ofhis goodness, but because

the hero's condition makes a deep positive appeal to him. The ques-

tion for the child is not "Do I want to be good?" but "Who do I wantto be like?" The child decides this on the basis of projecting himselfwholeheartedly into one character. If this fairy-tale figure is a verygood person, then the child decides that he wants to be good, too.

Ainoral fairy tales show no polarization or juxtaposition of good andbad persons; that is because these amoral stories serve an entirelydifferent purpose. Such tales or type figures as "Puss in Boots," whoarranges for the hero's success through trickery, andJack, who steals

the giant's treasure, build character not by promoting choices be-

tween good and bad, but by giving the child the hope that even themeekest can succeed in life. After all, what's the use of choosing tobecome a good person when one feels so insigniffcant that he fears hewill never amount to anything? Morality is not the issue in these tales,

but rather, assurance that one can succeed. Whether one meets Iifewith a belief in the possibility of mastering its difficulties or with theexpectation of defeat is also a very important existential problem.

The deep inner conficts originating in our primitive drives and ourviolent emotions are all denied in much of modern children's litera-ture, and so the child is not helped in coping with them. But the childis subject to despdrate feelings ofloneliness and isolation, and he oftenexperiences mortal anxiety. More often than not, he is unable toexpress these feelings in words, or he can do so only by indirection:fear of the dark, of some animal, anxiety about his body. Since itcreates discomfort in a parent to recognize these emotions in his child,the parent tends to overlook them, or he belittles these spoken fears

out of his own anxiety, believing this will cover over the child's fears.

The fairy tale, by contrast, takes these existential anxieties anddilemmas very seriously and addresses itself directly to them: theneed to be Ioved and the fear that one is thought worthless; the loveoflife, and the fear of death. Further, the fairy tale offers solutions inways that the child can grasp on his level of understanding' For exarn'ple, fairy tales pose the dilemma of wishing to live eternally by occa-

sionally concluding: "If they have not died, they are still alive." Theother ending-"And they lived happily ever after"ioes not for a

moment fool the child that eternal life is possible. But it does indicatethat which alone can take the sting out of the narrow limits of our timeon this earth: forming a truly satisfying bond to another. The talesteach that when one has done this, one has reached the ultimate in

Inlntduction u

elrr<ltional security of existence and permanence of relation availablelo nrun; and this alone can dissipate the fear of death. If one has foundtrrro udult love, the fairy story also tells, one doesn't need to wish forolnrnul life. This is suggested by another ending found in fairy tales:"'l'hcy lived for a long time afterward, happy and in pleasure."

Att uninformed view of the fairy tale sees in this type of ending anttttroullstic wish-fulfillment, missing completely the important mes-rugo it conveys to the child. These tales tell him that by forming a trueIrrttrrpersonal relation, one escapes the separation anxiety whichIrnrrnts him (and which sets the stage for many fairy tales, but is alwaysrt-.solved at the story's ending). Furthermore, the story tells, this end-Ing ls not made possible, as the child wishes and believes, by holdingon to his mother eternally. If we try to escape separation anxiety andcleuth anxiety by desperately keeping our grasp on ciur parents, wewlll only be cruelly forced out, like Hansel and Gretel.

(hrly by going out into the world can the fairy-tale hero (child) ffndhlrnsclf there; and as he does, he will also find the other with whomlrn will be able to live happily ever after; that is, without ever againItuvlng to experience separation anxiety. The fairy tale is future-ori-etttod and guides the child-in terms he can understand in both histtrrtscious and his unconscious mind-to relinquish his infantile de-pnrtrlcncy wishes and achieve a more satisfying independent exis-lRrtcc.

Toduy children no longer grow up within the security of an ex-lorrdcd family, or of a well-integrated community. Therefore, evenrrror<l than at the times fairy tales were invented, it is important toprovide the modern child with images of heroes who have to go outIttlo the world all by themselves and who, although originally ignorantol' thc ultimate things, find secure places in the world by followingllrcir right way with deep inner conffdence.

'l'he fairy-tale hero proceeds for a time in isolation, as the modernllrild often feels isolated. The hero is helped by being in touch withprirnitive things-a tree, an animal, nature-as the child feels morehr touch with those things than most adults do. The fate of theseIreroes convinces the child that, like them, he may feel outcast andrrlxrndoned in the world, groping in the dark, but, like them, in the('ourse of his life he will be guided step by step, and given help whenit is needed. Today, even more than in past times, the child needs ther'(lossurance offered by the image of the isolated man who neverthe-Icss is capable of achieving meaningful and rewarding relations withthc world around him.

INTRODUCTION

Ttre Fairy Tale: A lJnique Art Forrrr

While it entertains the child, the fairy tale enlightens him about him-self, and fosters his personality development' It offers meaning on so

many different levels, and enriches the child's existence in so manyways, that no one book can do justice to the multitude and diversityof the contributions such tales make to the child's life.

This book attempts to show how fairy stories represent in imagina-tive form what the process of healthy human development consists of,

and how the tales make such development attractive for the child toengage in. This growth process begins with the resistance against theparents and fear of growing up, and ends when youth has truly founditself, achieved psychological independence and moral maturity, and

no longer views the other sex as threatening or demonic, but is able

to relate positively to it. In short, this book explicates why fairy tales

make such great and positive psychological contributions to thechild's inner growth.

The delight we experience when we allow ourselves to respond toa fairy tale, the enchantment we feel, comes not from the psychologi-

cal meaning of a tale (although this contributes to it) but from itsliterary qualities-the tale itself as a work of art. The fairy tale couldnot have its psychological impact on the child were it not first and

foremost a work of art.Fairy tales are unique, not only as a form of literature' but as works

of art which are fully comprehensible to the child, as no other formof art is. As with all great art, the fairy tale's deepest meaning will be

different for each person, and different for the same person at various

moments in his life. The child will extract different meaning from thesame fairy tale, depending on his interests and needs of the moment.When given the chance, he will return to the same tale when he is

ready to enlarge on old meanings, or replace them with new ones.

As works of art, fairy tales have many aspects worth exploring inaddition to the psychological meaning and impact to which this bookis devoted. For example, our cultural heritage finds expression in fairytales, and through them is communicated to the child's mind.* An-

iOne example may illustrate: In the Brothers Grimm's story "The Seven Ravens,"

seven brothers disappear and become ravens as their sister enters life. Water hm to

be fetched from the well in a jug for the girl's baptism, and the Ioss of the jug is the

fateful event which sets the stage for the story. The ceremony ofbaptism also heralds

Itttt\)dndl,rt 13

ullrnr v<-rlume could detail the unique contribution fairy tales can andrlo rrruko to the child's moral education, a topic which is only touchedotr lrr the pages which follow.

liblklorists approach fairy tales in ways germane to their discipline;lltrgrrlsts and literary critics examine their meaning for other reasons.

ll lfr llltcresting to observe that, for example, some see in the motif ofl,lllln Red Riding Hood's being swallowed by the woH the theme ofrrlghl dcvouring the day, of the moon eclipsing the sun, of winterrFplAclng the warm seasons, of the god swallowing the sacrificial vic-tlrrr, ulrd so on. Interesting as such interpretations are, they seem tooflbr llttle to the parent or educator who wants to know what meaninge lirlry story may have to the child, whose experience is, after all, quiteI nr renroved from interpretations of the world on the basis of concernswlth nuture or celestial deities.

l,'nlry tules also abound in religious motifs; many Biblical stories areol'llrn sume nature as fairy tales. The conscious and unconscious as-

trx,lutlous which fairy tales evoke in the mind of the listener dependon hl$ gcneral frame of reference and his personal preoccupations.I lerrcer, religious persons will find in them much of importance thatili trttl rnentioned here.

M<xt fairy tales originated in periods when religion was a mosthrrpollunt part of life; thus, they deal, directly or by inference, withrnllglotrs themes. The stories of The Thousand and One Nighfs are fullol'rolirrences to Islamic religion. A great many Western fairy taleslurvo rcligious content; but most of these stories are neglected todayarrrl rrnknown to the larger public just because, for many, these reli-glorrr themes no longer arouse universally and personally meaningfulnrrrxriutions. The neglect of "Our Lady's Child," one of the mostlrnnrrtil'ul stories of the Brothers Grimm, illustrates this. It begins ex-

tlro lrnglnning of a Christian eistence. It is possible to view the seven brothers as

reprarflnting that which had to disappear for Christianity to come into being. Ifso,llray rrrpresent the pre-Christian, pagan world in which the seven planets stood forlhe nky gods of antiquity. The newborn girl is then the new religion, which canrrur,trrcl only if the old creed does not interfere with its development. With Christian-lly, lhe brothers who represent paganism become relegated to darkness. But as

rrverrs, they dwell in a mountain at the end of the world, and this suggests theirllrtl lrttrcd existence in a subterranean, subconscious world. Their return to humanityrxtrrrr only because the sister sacriffces one ofher Gngers, and this conforms to theI ilrrlntltrr idea that only those who are willing to sacriffce that part of their body whichlrrdvonts them from reaching perfection, if the circumstance requires it, will beullrwnrl to enter heaven. The new religion, Christianity, can liberate even those whoterrrrrhrod at Grst arrested in paganism.

L4

actly like "Hansel and Gretel": "Hard by a great forest dwelt a wood-cutter with his wife." As in "Hansel and Gretel," the couple are so

poor that they can no longer feed themselves and their three-year-olddaughter. Moved by their distress, the Virgin Mary appears to themand offers to take care of the little girl, whom she takes with her toheaven. The girl Iives a wonderful life there until she reaches the ageof fourteen. At this time, much as in the very different tale of "Blue-beard," the Virgin entrusts the girl with the keys to thirteen doors,twelve of which she may open, but not the thirteenth. The girl cannotresist this temptation; she lies about it, and in consequence has toreturn to earth, mute. She undergoes severe ordeals and is about tobe burned at the stake. At this moment, as she desires only to confessher misdeed, she regains her voice to do so, and is franted by theVirgin "happiness for her whole life." The lesson of the story is: a voiceused to tell lies leads us only to perdition; better we should be de-prived ofit, as is the heroine ofthe story. But a voice used to repent,to admit our failures and state the truth, redeems us.

Quite a few of the Brothers Grimm's other stories contain or beginwith religious allusions. "The Old Man Made Young Again" starts: "Atthe time when our Lord still walked the earth, he and St. Peterstopped one evening at a smith's house. . . ." In another story, "ThePoor Man and the Rich Man," God, Iike any other fairy-tale hero, is

tired from walking. That story begins: "In olden times, when the Lordhimself still used to walk about on this earth amongst men, it oncehappened that he was tired and overtaken by the darkness before hecould reach an inn. Now there stood on the road before him twohouses facing each other. . . ." But important and fascinating as thesereligious aspects offairy stories are, they remain beyond the scope andpurpose of this book, and so are left unexamined here.

Even given this book's relatively restricted purpose, that ofsuggest-ing why fairy tales are so meaningful to children in helping them copewith the psychological problems of growing up and integrating theirpersonalities, some serious but necessary limitabions have had to beaccepted.

The first of these lies in the fact that today only a small number offairy tales are widely known. Most of the points made in this bookcould have been illustrated more vividly if some of the more obscurefairy stories could have been referred to. But since these tales, thoughonce familiar, are presently unknown, it would have been necessaryto reprint them here, making for a book of unwieldy size. Thereforethe decision was made to concentrate on a few still-popular fairystories, to show some of their underlying rheanings, and how these

Ittlnilur'lLttt rs

rrrrry rolrrlc to'the child's growing-up problems, to our understandingr rl nr rrsolvcs und of the world. And the second part of the book, ratherllrnrr rilrlving fior an exhaustive completeness that is beyond reach,rrtrrrlrros sorne well-known favorites in some detail, for the meaningrtlrrl lrlnusrrrc that may be gained from them.

I I I I rls lxnk had been devoted to only one or two tales, it would haveItrrotr ;xlrsible to show m:rny more of their facets, although even thenlnlrplr,lrr probing of their depths would not have been achieved; forllrlr, orrr.lr story has meanings on too many levels. Which story is mostlntlx)rlrutl to a particular child at a particular age depends entirely onIrll pryr,lrological stage of development, and the problems which areIrrrrrl prtrssing to him at the moment. While in writing the book itrdrrrlnrl rcusonable to concentrate on a fairy tale's central meanings,llrh lrun lhc shortcoming of neglecting other aspects which might berrrrrr,lr rrrorc signiffcant to some individual child because of problemslrn lr nlrrrggling with at the bime. This, then, is another necessarylltrrllul lon of this presentation.

l,irr oxrrrnple, in discussing "Hansel and Gretel," the child's strivinglrr lurkl on to his parents even though the time has come for meetingllrl wrrrl<l <ln his own is stressed, as well as the need to transcend aprlrrrlllvc orality, symbolized by the children's infatuation with theglttgnrlrrcrrd house. Thus, it would seem that this fairy tale has mostlrr rrll'tr lo the young child ready to make his ffrst steps out into thewolhl, ll gives body to his anxieties, and offers reassurance about theselnur l lxr<:uuse even in their most exaggerated form-anxieties aboutIrulrrg rlcvoured-they prove unwarranted: the children are victori-rrtrr lrr lhc cnd, and a most threatening enemy-the witch-is utterlytlolnult.rl.'fhus, a good case could be made that this story has itsgrnulrrrl uppeal and value for the child at the age when fairy taleslrpgln lo exercise their beneffcial impact, that is, around the age ofllttr or live.

lhrl scparation anxiety-the fear of being deserted-and starvationIr.rrr', lrr<:lrrding oral greediness, are not reslricted to a particular pe-t krrl ol'development. Such fears occur at all ages in the unconscious,rrul llrrrs this tale also has meaning for, and provides encouragementIu, rrrrrch older children. As a matter of fact, the older person mightllrrrl lt considerably more difficult to admit consciously his fear oflrnlrrg rlt-'serted by his parents, or to face his oral greed; and this is evenrrrr(! rcoson to let the fairy tale speak to his unconscious, give bodylo lrlr unconscious anxieties, and relieve them, without this ever com-Irrg lo conscious awareness.

()llrcr features of the same story may offer much-needed reassur-

INTRODUCTION 16

ance and guidance to an older child. In early adolescence a girl hadbeen fascinated by "Hansel and Gretel," and had derived great com'fort from reading and rereading it, fantasizing about it. As a child, she

had been dominated by a slightly older brother. He had, in a way,shown her the path, as Hansel did when he put down the pebbles

which guided his sister and himself back home. As an adolescent, thisgirl continued to rely on her brother; and this feature ofthe story feltreassuring. But at the same time she also resented the brother's domi-nance. Without her being conscious of it at the time, her struggle forindependence rotated around the figure of Hansel. The story told herunconscious that to follow Hansel's lead led her back, not forward, andit was also meaningful that although Hansel was the leader at thestory's beginning, it was Gretel who in the end achieved freedom andindependence for both, because it was she who defeated the witch'As an adult, this woman came to understand that the fairy tale hadhelped her greatly in throwing offher dependence on her brother, as

it had convinced her that an early dependence on him need notinterfere with her later ascendancy. Thus, a story which for one rea-

son had been meaningful to her as a young child provided guidance

for her at adolescence for a quite different reason.

The central motif of "Snow White" is the pubertal girl's surpassingin every way the evil stepmother who, out of jealousy, denies her an

independent existence-symbolically represented by the stepmoth'er's trying to see Snow White destroyed. The story's deepest meaningfor one particular ffve-year-old, however, was far removed from thesepubertal problems. Her mother was cold and distant, so much so thatshe felt lost. The story assured her that she need not despair: SnowWhite, betrayed by her stepmother, was saved by rnales-ffrst thedwarfs and later the prince. This child, too, did not despair because

of the mother's desertion, but trusted that rescue would come frommales. Conffdent that "snow White" showed her the way, she turnedto her father, who responded favorably; the fairy tale's happy endingmade it possible for this girl to find a happy solution to the impassein living into which her mother's lack of interest had projected her.Thus, a fairy tale can have as important a meaning to a five-year-oldas to a thirteen-year-old, although the personal meanings they derivefrom it may be quite different.

In "Rapunzel" we learn that the enchantress locked Rapunzel intothe tower when she reached the age of twelve. Thus, hers is likewisethe story of a pubertal girl, and of a jealous mother who tries toprevent her from gaining independence-a typical adolescent prob-

Inlnrlw'tktrt 17

lclrr, wlrlr'lr linds a happy solution when Rapunzel becomes unitedwlllr lre'r prince. But one five-year-old boy gained quite a differenttFuuur Ance liom this story. When he learned that his grandmother,*lur lrrok cnre of him most of the day, would have to go to the hospitalFrelnrrr+. ol'serious illness-his mother was working all day, and therewur rro lirllrtrr in the home-he asked to be read the story of Rapunzel.Al tltlr r,rlllcul time in his life, two elements of the tale were importantlrr lrlrtr, l,'lrsl, there was the security from all dangers in which therrhrlllnlr, rnother kept the child, an idea which greatly appealed toIrlrrr nl llrrrl rnoment. So what normally could be viewed as a represen-telitrn rrl'rrrrgutive, selfish behavior was capable of having a most reas-!ut llH nrenning under speciffc circumstances. And even more impor-lHnt to llur lxly was another central motif of the story: that Rapunzelfltrtttl llrr, rtrcuns of escaping her predicament in her own body-thelt err+rr orr which the prince climbed up to her room in the tower. Thatnrre'r lrorly r:un provide a lifeline reassured him that, if necessary, hewurrhl rlrrrllurly ffnd in his own body the source of his security. Thisllruwr I lrrrt u fuiry tale-because it addresses itself in the most imagina-tlve lur rrr to essential human problems, and does so in an indirect way.- r,arr lrnvtr rnuch to offer to a little boy even if the story's heroine is

6ti nrlrrlnrccnt girl.'l'lrern cxnrnples may help to counteract any impression made by

!uy (1rrir('r\nttotion here on a story's main motifs, and demonstrate thatfslt y lillr.$ have great psychological meaning for children of all ages,

lrrrl lr glrls und boys, irrespective of the age and sex of the story's hero.fllr,lr lx,rronul meaning is gained from fairy stories because they facili-lale clrrrrrgcs in identiffcation as the child deals with different prob-lerrrc, orrc ut a time. In the light of her earlier identiffcation with alJr+,le.l who was glad to be led by Hansel, the adolescent girl's laterlrlerllll<rttion with a Gretel who overcame the witch made her growthkrwnlrl independence more rewarding and secure. The little boy'shr rl llrr<ling security in the idea of being kept within the safety of theluw,r't pormitted him later on to glory in the realization that a muchtrrrrrc dependable security could be found in what his body had tolll.er lrirrr, by way of providing him with a lifeline.

Ari wrr cannot know at what age a particular fairy tale will be mostItttlxrltunt to a particular child, we cannot ourselves decide which ofllrr rttrttty tales he should be told at any given time or why. This onlyllrp clrlkl can determine and reveal by the strength of feeling withwlrlt,lr lrc reacts to what a tale evokes in his conscious and unconsciousrrrirrtl. Naturally a parent will begin by telling or reading to his child

INTRODUCTION T8

a tale the parent himself or herself cared for as a child, or cares fornow. If the child does not take to the story, this means that its motifsor themes have failed to evoke a meaningful response at this momentin his life. Then it is best to tell him another fairy tale the next evening.Soon he will indicate that a certain story has become important to himby his immediate response to it, or by his asking to be told this storyover and over again. If all goes well, the child's enthusiasm for thisstory will be contagious, and the story will become important to theparent too, if for no other reason than that it means so much to thechild. Finally there will come the time when the child has gained allhe can from the preferred story, or the problems which made himrespond to it have been replaced by others which find better expres-sion in some other tale. He may then temporarily lose interest in thisstory and enjoy some other one much more. In the telling of fairystories it is always best to follow the child's lead.

Even if a parent should guess correctly why his child has becomeinvolved emotionally with a given tale, this is knowledge best kept tooneself. The young child's most important experiences and reactionsare largely subconscious, and should remain so until he reaches amuch more mature age and understanding. It is always intrusive tointerpret a person's unconscious thoughts, to make conscious what hewishes to keep preconscious, and this is especially true in the case ofa child. Just as important for the child's well-being as feeling that hisparent shares his emotions, through enjoying the same fairy tale, is thechild's feeling that his inner thoughts are not known to his parent untilhe decides to reveal them. If the parent indicates that he knows themalready, the child is prevented from making the most precious gift tohis parent of sharing with him what until then was secret and privateto the child. And since, in addition, a parent is so much more powerfulthan a child, his domination may appear limitless-and hence destruc-tively overwhelming-if he seems able to read the child's secretthoughts, know his most hidden feelings, even before the child him-self has begun to become aware of them.

Explaining to a child why a fairy tale is so captivating to him de-stroys, moreover, the story's enchanbment, which depends to a consid-erable degree on the child's not quite knowing why he is delightedby it. And with the forfeiture of this power to enchant goes also a lossof the story's potential for helping the child struggle on his own, andmaster all by himself the problem which has made the story meaning-ful to him in the first place. Adult interpretations, as correct as theymay be, rob the child of the opportunity to feel that he, on his own,

llttt'rlw lh'tt tg

llrrrrrrglr 11,1x,rrlcrl hearing and ruminating about the story, has copedgut,r'r-lllrrlll' witlr u difficult situation. We grow, we ftnd meaning inlile, trrrrl nr,r,rrrity in ourselves by having understood and solved per-sett*l prrrlrL.nrs on our own, not by having them explained to us byslher r

liulr t' lrrlr. rrrotifs are not neurotic symptoms, something one is bet-LFi rrll rrrrrlr.r'strrrrding rationally so that one can rid oneself of them.ittt'lr rrrollln rrrr. cxperienced as wondrous because the child feels un-del rlr rlr I urrr I rrpprcciated deep down in his feelings, hopes, and anxie-ticq, n,lllrr rr rl llu'sc all having to be dragged up and investigated in thehatslr ltxlrt ol rr rrrtionality that is still beyond him. Fairy tales enrichlhe r,lrthl'ri llli. lnd give it an enchanted quality just because he doesIlrl rlrll.r krrow how the stories have worked their wonder on him.

l'lrh lrook lrrrs bcen written to help adults, and most especially thosetrylllr llrlilrorr in lheir care, to become more fully aware of the impor-tBlrr,n rrl rrrclr tulcs. As has already been pointed out, innumerableiiiler pr r.lrrlIrrrs bcsides those suggested in the text that follows may beperllrri'rrl; lrrily tules, like all true works of art, possess a mulhifariousFlcltttnrr urrrl rlcpth that far transcend what even the most thoroughdigr'tttelt'r' r'xrrrrrination can extract from them. What is said in thishrlrrl rlr,rrrlrl lrc viewed as illustrative and suggestive merely. If thefcerlr.r lr nllrrrrrluted to go beyond the surface in his own way, he willetlr[r,l rtvll nrorc varied personal meaning from these stories, which*lll llrr'r rrlso lrccome more meaningful to the children he may telllltettr ll

Ilnt r,, lrowtrvcr, one especially crucial limitation must be noted: The[+rrn rrrnrrrirrg and impact of a fairy tale can be appreciated, its en-elrslrlrrrlrrl curr be experienced, only from the story in its originalftlrrr I )r,rcrilrirrg the significant features of a fairy tale gives as littleleeltrrg lrrr wlrat it is all about as the listing of the events of a poemdrrt'r lor ils rrppreciation. Such a description of main features, how-etet, ll nll that a book like this one can provide, short ofactuallyI Flrr lrllnB I lrt. stories. Since most of these fairy tales are readily avail-Flrln r,l1i.1y1r,.rc, the hope is that this book will be read in conjunctionr.illr rr rr,rr.urling of the tales discussed.* Whether it is "Little Redlltrltrrx lloo<l," "Cinderella," or any other fairy tale, only the storyil+;ll lrr.r'rrrits rrn appreciation of its poetic qualities, and with it aniirrrlr.rrrlrurrlirrg of how it enriches a responsive mind.

r I lrt r r r.r r! rr rs ol' the fairy tales discussed in this book are referred to in the Notesct llrn ,,rrrl ol llrt. book.